Calgary, the oldest city in the province of Alberta. Pop. (1901) 4091; (1907) 21,112. It is situated in 114° 15′ W., and 51° 4½′ N., on the Bow river, which flows with its crystal waters from the pass in the Rocky Mountains, by which the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the Rocky Mountains. The pass proper - Kananaskis - penetrates the mountains beginning 40 m. west of Calgary, and the well-known watering-place, Banff, lies 81 m. west of it, in the Canadian national park. The streets are wide and laid out on a rectangular system. The buildings are largely of stone, the building stone used being the brown Laramie sandstone found in the valley of the Bow river in the neighbourhood of the city. Calgary is an important point on the Canadian Pacific railway, which has a general superintendent resident here. It is an important centre of wholesale dealers, and also of industrial establishments. Calgary is near the site of Fort La Jonquiere founded by the French in 1752. Old Bow fort was a trading post for many years though now in ruins.

The present city was created by the building of the Canadian Pacific railway about 1883.